Seahouses (Mrs Laidlaw): Week 7 – 16 October

Well, I’m back, as Sam the Hobbit says at the end of The Lord of Rings; but whereas he’d just seen the last of the elves and wizards of Middle Earth sail away to the Undying Lands, I was at a conference in Stockholm, considering issues around archiving records of nuclear waste. And I honestly don’t know which of the two of us, Sam or me, got more emotional in the end.

I knew I was going to like Sweden right from my immigration interview. The lady behind the counter asked me the purpose of my visit, and I told her about the conference. She wrinkled her nose and said, “Waste?” So I explained I was an archivist, and was there to discuss records. “Records, huh?” she said, and gave her computer monitor a dismissive flick of her finger. “So what do you think about these things?” she asked. “Trouble,” I grinned. She slammed her palm down on the desk in delight, and exclaimed, “Finally! Someone who agrees with me!” And with a flourish of her stamp, I was in.

Margaret visited the museum of the Vasa shipwreck

Mind you, I had to wait till my return to Britain for my most surreal conversation. While we were waiting to depart from Heathrow in the departure lounge, I caught my shin (tibialis anterior) the almightiest crack against one of the fold-down tables the chairs at the ends of the rows have. It made quite a hole, and such was the force of the impact, and the intensity of my howl of anguish, several windows shattered, and pigeons took flight to a radius of several miles. Well, a couple of weeks later the wound still looked pretty nasty, so I went to the chemist and asked their opinion. The charming young assistant heard me out, then rather nonplussed me by asking if I had a picture of it with me. “No,” I told her, “but I have brought my leg, if that’s any good…”

Meanwhile, in parish notices, Judit has come up trumps again. This time she’s knit a Flamborough design, taken from page 68 of Rae Compton’s book, a very pleasing combination of open diamonds and double moss stitch, in light blue. It looks great, and, as ever, many thanks and congratulations to Judit for bringing another pattern back to life, and for sharing.

. . . and went on a tour of Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s Old Town

GETTING MY EXCUSES IN EARLY

So, let’s get this out there: sure, I’ve almost finished the back but, you may think, that doesn’t seem like a lot of progress for nearly a month’s absence, does it? And you’d be right. But apart from all the time spent conferencing and travelling, I do have a couple of excuses.

Part of the reading room at the National Archive of Sweden

First of all, not only did I come back from Sweden with a lot of happy memories, I also brought back a nasty cold. This flattened me out so much that when I got back, for the best part of a week I didn’t have the energy to even lift my arms enough to knit. (I’m much better now, but I’m still a bit behind the curve.)

The other reason is that, when I did start knitting again, I made a mistake all along a row, but didn’t notice at first. By the time I did spot it, I’d knit another 2.5 inches, i.e., over two days’ worth. I did all the usual things—looked at it from different angles, held it further away, tried shutting one eye—in the hopes it wouldn’t be noticeable. But it was. In these cases, there’s really no alternative but to rip it back and re-do it. So that’s what I did. It hurts at the time, but it’s better than leaving it uncorrected. And, as the poet says, we rise upon the stepping-stones of our dead selves to higher things. (Still can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner, mind.)